The spatial development policy implemented in Iraq four decades ago did not achieve tangible positive results in the area of spatial disparity between governorates.

The disparity is attributed to the neglect of the criteria of economic efficiency and social justice when distributed to investment allocations geographically. O Ignoring the role of decentralization and its importance in integrating population into development processes.

On this subject, the Economic Academy said, "The distribution of investments did not depend on the principle of comparative advantage when signing development projects, which deepened the spatial disparity of development and increased deprivation and poverty, generating real causes of distorted development and irregular population movement through migration to cities, And the consequent negative repercussions on the pattern of spatial distribution in favor of centers of economic growth.

Administrative decentralization

Mahdawi continued that "the poverty and deprivation spread among the provinces created the actual need to start the implementation of administrative decentralization, which was approved by the Constitution in 2005, and therefore must be the development of provinces spatially and reduce the economic and social disparities between them and establish the foundations of administrative decentralization and achieving social justice by reducing poverty and deprivation and the organization of settlement population to Population stability while strengthening the development partnership and activating it between the public and private sectors."

She pointed out that "administrative decentralization is a tool in the development process that contributes to activating the role of regional and local authorities by assigning administrative and developmental functions that increase their effectiveness and enhance their role in carrying out their responsibilities and powers in a manner that integrates the population in local development processes and ultimately leads to success."

"The failure of many development plans, especially the rural ones, in many developing countries is due mainly to the management practices used in the content of the planning process itself, so it is the administration that highlights the importance of decentralized planning compared to sectoral planning."

Planning from the bottom

For its part, reported the Economic Academy d. "The process of planning under administrative decentralization should mean activating popular participation and the role of the target groups in the process of preparing and implementing local development plans, which is known as the planning style from the bottom," said Anam.

And planning from the bottom works to achieve working on the realization of the principle of the principle of successful development and this principle is to promote freedom and maximize the ability of the individual to choose and help in identifying regional development goals that reflect the specificity of the region under planning.

Good governance

"This planning is in line with what the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has affirmed. Good governance requires the participation of the state, civil society and the private sector. Without participation from the lowest to the highest, local governments will not be able to structure or manage public services and achieve development," she added.